A base station which is closed loop power controlling a wireless terminal's transmitter to achieve a target received power at base station will typically issue power control commands at a high rate while reporting of transmission power information from the wireless terminal is typically at a much lower rate. This infrequent reporting of transmission power information from the wireless terminal can lead to the base station overestimating or underestimating the available power at the wireless terminal for data transmission. Poor estimates of the available power information can lead to inefficient rates of data transmission by the wireless terminal.
In view of the above, there is a need for additional methods and apparatus that improve the base station's estimate of the power available at the wireless terminal for data transmission. Methods and apparatus that provide a tracking capability between a base station's understanding of sent power commands and a wireless terminal's understanding of received and acted upon power control commands would be useful. Methods and apparatus that also allow for modeling, estimation, and/or command correction compensations to achieve a better level of wireless terminal transmission power control would also be beneficial.